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Love? Jesus Says So.

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“Love? Jesus Says So.”

John 13:31-35 (13:34) – May 18, 2025

            May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This month is particularly meaningful to me, since I deal with people who have mental health challenges almost all the time. Both professionally, as a hospice chaplain, and personally, since I have a number of people in my extended family who have mental health challenges.

            I have highlighted May and mental health awareness for years, as a hospice chaplain working in the Chicago community. As a friend of mine, the Rev. Kathy MacNair said many times, everyone knows someone. Every single person knows someone who is struggling with mental health issues – and sometimes, they know several someones. Or, are related to several someones. Or, perhaps you are one of these people who have mental health challenges.

            Our Lord Jesus was very familiar with mental health challenges. As we can see from all four Gospels, the Rabbi Jesus traveled from place to place, preaching, teaching and healing. Sure, some of these healings were physical healings, but some of these healings were also spiritual, mental, and I believe psychological, too. Our Lord Jesus truly healed these dear folks. His compassionate action and treatment is always truly loving, and infinitely caring.  

John chapter 13 comes from the Upper Room Discourse, that last night the Rabbi Jesus was with His disciples. Remember, this was at the Passover meal they all shared together, just before Jesus was arrested later that evening, beaten, tried, appeared before Pontius Pilate, and later the next day crucified outside the city of Jerusalem.  

            Do you understand how important and poignant these words of Jesus are? Just think back to a particularly important conversation you had with someone very meaningful in your life. Perhaps it was one of the last conversations you remember having with that loved one. Just so, our Gospel writer is aware of how important these last hours with his Lord Jesus actually were! I am certain all the disciples remembered these memorable words of Jesus with particular care.

            Let us read again the words of Jesus, from John 13: “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Shallow people comment about what they call love, thinking about valentines, candy and chocolates, and champagne toasts of undying affection. Can’t you hear them already? “Oh, how wonderful of Jesus! I love everybody already. I’m a good Christian.” Let’s take a closer look at exactly what Jesus was commanding.

            Sure, the Gospel of John mentions the disciples loving one another. But – John’s Gospel also has passages about other kinds of people, too. Nicodemus was a respected member of the Jewish religious rulers, the Sanhedrin, the religious upper class. By and large, the Jewish rulers were no friends of the Rabbi Jesus. What about the half-Jew, the Samaritan woman of chapter 4? What is more, she was also an outcast in her own town.

Did Jesus show any hesitation in His interaction with either one? Wasn’t He caring, loving and honest with each of them, just as He was with everyone else?

            Jesus was the ultimate in being open, loving and honest to everyone. No matter who, no matter where, no matter what faith tradition, social strata, ethnicity, or any other designation.  Jesus is commanding us to love in the same way. Not only towards strangers, but towards friends, as well. That can be even more difficult sometimes.

            “Here in John chapter 13, Jesus demonstrates his love for the same disciples who will fail him miserably. Jesus washes and feeds Judas who will betray him, Peter who will deny him, and all the rest who will fail to stand by him in his hour of greatest distress. The love that Jesus demonstrates is certainly not based on the merit of the recipients, and Jesus commands his disciples to love others in the same way.” [1]

            I get set back a bit when I realize the full ramifications of that boundless, amazing love of Jesus. It’s a tall order! Whoa, Lord! You don’t really expect me to be that way with people who insult me, or are mean to me, or disrespect me, do You?  I kind of think that is exactly what Jesus means. Love them. No “but, what if…?” Love all of them unconditionally.

            Which brings us back to where we started. It’s easy to love lovable people, to love babies and small children. Easier to love those in our families, and friends. But what about those we don’t even know? What about people we actively dislike? And, what about people who are scary, who we don’t understand, who are in dementia or who throw tantrums, or have addictions?

            I have permission from our friend Irene to talk about her adult daughter, who does have mental health challenges, was living at Thresholds social services for years, and who currently lives in Wisconsin. Now that the daughter is regularly taking her prescribed medication, things are stable and under control.  This dear daughter is quite helpful to Irene when she comes to visit. Thank God, this story has a happy ending, and this mother and daughter are reunited and grateful to God for all the help and support from friends, doctors and from support groups.

            That is exactly what Jesus means. Love all people. Even the scary ones, even the ones we dislike. No “but, what if…?” Love all of them, unconditionally.

            This is not just a suggestion. Jesus makes it a command. If you and I want to follow Jesus, this is one of the requirements. Some well-meaning believers say that other people may not merit Jesus’ love, for whatever reason.  Gosh, I don’t merit Jesus’ love a lot of the time! But, that makes no difference. Jesus still loves each of us, unconditionally. No matter what. Plus, Jesus commands us to love others in the same way. The same ultimate, above-and-beyond, bottomless way.

            So, whether you and I succeed or fail in our attempts to love one another this week, yet God in Jesus loves us more than we can possibly imagine. And hearing of this deep Jesus-love we are set free and sent forth, once again, to “love one another.”

That is good news for all of us! Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-john-1331-35

Commentary, John 13:31-35, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2016.

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Turning of the Year!

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“Turning of the Year!”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (3:1) – December 31, 2023

            Time has a funny way of getting away from us, doesn’t it? Time can be rushing by while you and I are sitting, watching, on a treadmill or a big hamster wheel. Time is elastic, sometimes stretching out, tedious while we are waiting, other times jam-packed with events and decisions and happenings all on top of each other!

            Many people take stock at the end of the year, looking back, looking ahead. My husband Kevin noticed a local newspaper at a restaurant we went to for lunch yesterday. The sports page had a preview for 2024, showing some positive news: up-and-coming sports players to watch and look forward to! That is certainly one way of looking at the turning of the year!

            The Scripture reading for today (for tomorrow, really – for New Year’s Day) comes from the Hebrew Scriptures book called Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes does not have riveting stories like Genesis or 1 or 2 Samuel. It does not have uplifting or emotional songs like the book of Psalms, or stirring prophecy like Isaiah. What this book does have is a poignant, soul-stirring view on time, on life, on death, and on wisdom, right here in chapter 3.

            People can get bogged down with the basic message of Ecclesiastes. In short, an overview of the whole book has the Teacher (some call him the Preacher) telling his readers that life is short, everything passes away and goes back to God, and he gives the advice to live life to the fullest while you can. Grab all the gusto you can! Seize the day! Carpe diem!

            A secondary message found in this short book is to strive after wisdom. I can imagine young people hearing the first, overarching message of Ecclesiastes and doing exactly that – living life to the fullest while they can! Except, young people often do not consider wisdom. Sometimes older folks do not consider wisdom, either!

Wisdom is front and center here in chapter 3. We see life – and humanity – laid out for us, in all its nitty gritty manner, warts and all.

We can look at this reading from three different perspectives, This is helpful when interpreting this famous passage from Ecclesiastes 3. “In order to appreciate the wisdom of what “the Teacher” presents, we do well to see it from an outside location for a positive perspective, the inside for a negative perspective and up-above for an ultimate perspective.” [1]

            If we view this reading from the outside, just taking the words “as is,” everything looks pretty good, pretty safe. Remember the folk song from the 1960s by the Byrds? Turn, Turn, Turn. The words to the song read exactly like today’s Scripture reading. Yes, there are different times for different experiences in our lives. That plain truth is self-evident. The same fire that melts butter also boils a hard-boiled egg. The same wind that puts out a match will fan flames into a strong blaze. There is a time for everything, for every activity under heaven.

            Except – we are not to go through life blindly or carelessly. Just as the Teacher says to us, we “acknowledge the wisdom of these different times. We challenge the assumption that if we are spiritual enough, we ought to be happy all the time, realizing instead if we’ve lost someone—to divorce or Alzheimer’s or a miscarriage –it is the right time to weep.  We acknowledge there is a time to scatter stones (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”). And a time to hate (cancer, human trafficking, hypocrisy.)” [2]

            We need to consider the inside story next. That’s the negative part, isn’t it? Looking at these words from the inside, and considering the context, the “why” and the “how come?” We run right into sadness and pain, the core and substance of life. We all know that life is not always rosy! Life has negative aspects, depressing happenings, and sad situations.

Sometimes these situations come up again and again. This boils down to the conclusion that actor Jim Carrey gave in an interview: “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” [3]Does striving after the unreachable, beating the air, running as fast as you can with no chance of ever catching a break, sound familiar? “What do we gain from any of this? What profit?” At the end of the day, the Teacher calls every tick of our clock, every activity under the sun meaningless.            

            Sounds pretty hopeless, and the Teacher says humanity can do very little! But, do not despair! We come to the third view, the view from up above – God’s viewpoint! We read v. 10: “I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. [And then this shining ray of hope] Yet God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.”  

            God indeed has the last word. God can make a way through. God opens a window in the skies, in the everlasting cloudy day of sorrow the writer of Ecclesiastes paints for us. God does indeed make everything beautiful in its time! Everything is in God’s time.

            Which brings us back to where we started, with time. Our human concept of time. “We human beings are in time, we’re defined by its limits. But from the midst of time, we have a sense for eternity. We have inklings of something more. We hear echoes from a far country.” [4] I suspect even the writer of Ecclesiastes heard this inkling of eternity, too.

            With wisdom, we come to understand that time is not just what happens around us! “Time is something to which we pay wise attention so that we can know how to act in various seasons of life. Ecclesiastes 3 is not just about the passing of time or the “turn, turn, turn” of life’s cycles. It is also about wisdom, about a wise discerning of time and of how we are to react to the different occasions that come our way.” [5] Yes, there is a time for everything. And yes, there is an eternity for everyone – for you, for me, made beautiful in the human heart.

            The Teacher says, listen up! Be wise, and take heart. God is able, God is over all, and God loves us all. Whether in 2023, or 2024, and into eternity. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/lora-copley/ecclesiastes-31-11/

[2] Ibid.

[3]  Reader’s Digest, March 2006

[4] https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2014-12-15/ecclesiastes-31-13-2/

[5] Ibid.